Labels: Jade Tree Records
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Pronounced live, as in: I am a rabbit and I live in a rabbit hutch! Not: that goldfish is a real live fish. You know? Hmmm.
Hey, everyone in the world has an opinion on this new Kinsella thing. A lot of people seem to hate it. I can understand why. I, personally, hate 4 songs on it. Other people probably hate more, but then, that’s up to them. The other 9, well, they’re pretty much great. The lyrics are often nonsensical, the artwork is freakish: strange photos of Kinsella (T.) + pals standing around in various poses, often with a good lashing of “blood” smeared over their faces and clothes, as well as 2 pictures of guys eating bread. Mmmm, bread.
First of all, I will tell you about the absolutely fucking shit tracks. Opener, “It’s easier to drink…” is just meandering no-rock with Kinsella whispering in the background. “Live In Chicago, 1999” is someone playing a drum at a million mph, with Kinsella interspersing it with occasional comments that were probably recorded on a dictaphone. This is so bad it’s unbelievable. “Thanks For Chicago Mr. James” has someone playing spacey piano, and Kinsella ‘singing’ over the top in faux musical fashion. This is somehow even worse than the other Chicago song. And finally, “All Until The Greens…” is minimal, undirectional acousticness, and Kinsella warbling.
Right! Got that out of the way, I like the rest, lets be postive at last. Most of the other stuff is on a par with the last album, which I still play quite often as it is unambiguously great. And I guess most of these songs would fit well with the last album, it’s not as if Kinsella has changed his band radically, just check “Pioneering New Emotions” for proof positive. After all, this is pretty much his art project now.
Most of the tunes have nice, flowing acousticism, such as the sleepy 3 minute intro to “Who’s Afraid Of Elizabeth Taylor?”. Then there is the relative upbeatness of the marvellous “If It Feels / Good, Do It” which has some cool electronic noises plus a bit of trumpet or the down right prettiness of stuff like “I’m Certainly Not Pleased With My Options For The Future”. I wish they could be that good all of the time over this album though. Then there is “(I’m 5 senses)…” which pretends to be out of tune at times, but sounds really great for some reason. Maybe I’m just semi-drunk again. No, this one is cool, I remember thinking that when I last listened. I still don’t understand why Tim gets so much stick for his ‘singing’, I love it when it fits the music as much as it does on this one. Hmm, I’m going to end up mentioning every song at this rate. “Me (plural)” has Mme Jen Wood cropping up on it, but she seems to have been hidden away in the mix at times. What a waste.
If you don’t like JOA already, this won’t change your mind. If you do like JOA already, this might change your mind and you’ll drop them like an overly hot, erm, bread, and decide they’ve gone shit. Alternatively, like me, you’ll think: “that was pretty cool, although I hated 4 of the songs”.
I’m sorry for liking this (apart from those 4 songs), as ‘most every other review of it that I’ve read pans it left, right and center with opinions ranging from tolerable to terrible. And I’d trust their opinions way more than mine. I’ll leave you with the fact that the plan for the next album is: “A Soundtrack For The New Heaven, 2000”. And oh yeah, try this one with the headphones.